This invention is described in my Disclosure Document #472468 filed Apr. 12, 2000.
Wire hook-end rods, commonly referred to as double-hooks are used for a variety of purposes, such as the hanging of signs and other objects. They are made today by two methods, one of which is to take one straight wire rod, place the rod into a hand wire forming machine, bend one end into a curved shape, then take the rod out of the forming machine, turn it around, put the other end of the rod into the machine and bend that end into a curved shape. This process is slow and cumbersome and requires many man-hours to form any significant number of wire hooks. The other present method is to take a continuous coil of wire and feed it into a Four Slide machine, where the hooks are formed in the machine, one at a time. This method is also slow and cumbersome because only one hook-end rod is formed at a time and the hook-end wire rods come out loose and unpackaged.
Applicant""s invention comprises taking a plurality of rods, laying them out together, side-by-side, ganging them together with a strapping means to form a flat, rectangular shaped array or panel, placing the array into a forming press and bending one end of all of the rods together, uniformly and simultaneously. The bound array can then be rotated 180 degrees, if desired, and the other end of the panel inserted to bend that end of all the rods, uniformly and simultaneously.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the invention are as follows:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for forming a pluality of formed wire rods, simultaneously.
Another object of the invention is to provide a process to quickly and economically form a plurality of wire rods, simultaneously, to save time and man-hours.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a process to simultaneously form a plurality of double-hook wire rods, which can remain bound together until they are used, which provides convenience in shipping, handling, storage and use.
These, as well as other objects of the invention, will become obvious from the following description in which: